For those who work in-house and also you’re not treating your vendor contracts like strategic property, you’re overlooking one of the crucial useful sources of operational perception. In a current episode of “Notes to My (Authorized) Self,” authorized ops chief Navin Mahavijiyan defined how most authorized groups are sitting on a treasure trove of knowledge with out realizing it, and what to do about it.
Watch the complete episode right here:
Contracts Are Extra Than Agreements. They’re Knowledge Units.
Vendor contracts usually reside quietly within the background. They get filed away and barely resurface except one thing goes improper or a renewal is approaching. However as Navin identified, these agreements comprise essential details about how a enterprise features, spends, and scales.
“One of many issues that I’ve come to study in my profession is that managing your vendor, your provider, your subcontractor contracts is extremely essential for the enterprise,” Navin mentioned. “That’s an enormous quantity of spend. With the ability to observe them — after they expire, when it’s worthwhile to have renewal discussions, or simply the truth that you might have them — is instrumental.”
This isn’t about constructing a greater repository. It’s about turning static paperwork into dwelling information that helps smarter enterprise selections.
AI Helps, However Solely When You Know What You Want
Navin is a powerful advocate for utilizing AI to handle contracts, however with a caveat. He warns towards speeding right into a device simply because it might probably extract plenty of information. The bottom line is readability of function.
“While you’re simply beginning out, the standard movement is let’s take our contracts, dump them right into a device, and have the seller’s AI analyze them,” he mentioned. “That’s very easy to do. However it might probably turn into an excessive amount of.”
As an alternative, begin together with your priorities. What do you really must know to help your small business? Renewal dates? Fee phrases? Auto-renew clauses? Navin recommends constructing a shortlist of must-have information factors first.
“Have your personal guidelines on what information factors you need to acquire out of your contracts,” he mentioned. “Then you definately additionally know what must be educated into the AI.”
Searchable Is Good. Contextual Is Higher.
Scanning and importing contracts right into a central system may test the field for “digitized,” nevertheless it’s not sufficient. Navin pressured that authorized groups must transcend searchability and concentrate on usability.
This consists of establishing alerts, triggers, and workflows that really assist stakeholders take motion, whether or not that’s procurement needing to renegotiate a contract or finance needing to plan for upcoming obligations.
“You should use [AI] to research all of the contracts, pull huge quantities of knowledge out of it, make them searchable, and automate alerts and monitoring,” Navin mentioned. “The fitting folks in numerous elements of your small business could be notified when one thing so simple as the contract is about to run out, or when language creates danger.”
Not All Contract Knowledge Lives In The Contract
One of many smartest factors Navin made is that among the most helpful contract information isn’t within the contract itself. Particulars like vendor contacts, inside house owners, and enterprise context usually reside exterior the doc, however they’re simply as important.
“There are parts of the contract info that aren’t within the contract itself,” he defined. “That’s the place AI can’t assist except you construct that into your contract evaluation course of.”
Authorized ops groups want a course of to seize and affiliate this metadata. Consumption kinds, playbooks, and templates can go a good distance in closing that hole and making the contract lifecycle extra full.
Too A lot Info Can Be Simply As Dangerous
As contract methods turn into extra highly effective, there’s a temptation to broadcast each bit of knowledge to each stakeholder. Navin cautioned towards this method.
“Finance needs to know very various things out of your supply people or your accounting crew,” he mentioned. “It’s good to perceive their cadence, how usually they have to be notified, and craft alerts which can be strong and distinctive to every group.”
The aim isn’t to make everybody a contract knowledgeable. The aim is to ship the best perception to the best individual on the proper time.
Authorized Ops Can Lead The Shift
For too lengthy, vendor contracts have been handled like authorized housekeeping. However as Navin made clear, they’re a window into how your small business spends, dangers, renews, and grows. With the best mixture of instruments and processes, authorized groups can flip that window right into a management panel.
That is greater than a tech improve. It’s a mindset shift.
The return on funding isn’t simply cleaner information. It’s higher visibility, quicker motion, and better alignment with the enterprise. Vendor contracts are already sitting there, ready to be unlocked.
Prepared to begin digging?
Olga V. Mack is the CEO of TermScout, an AI-powered contract certification platform that accelerates income and eliminates friction by certifying contracts as truthful, balanced, and market-ready. A serial CEO and authorized tech government, she beforehand led an organization by means of a profitable acquisition by LexisNexis. Olga can also be a Fellow at CodeX, The Stanford Heart for Authorized Informatics, and the Generative AI Editor at regulation.MIT. She is a visionary government reshaping how we regulation—how authorized methods are constructed, skilled, and trusted. Olga teaches at Berkeley Legislation, lectures extensively, and advises firms of all sizes, in addition to boards and establishments. An award-winning basic counsel turned builder, she additionally leads early-stage ventures together with Digital Gabby (Higher Parenting Plan), Product Legislation Hub, ESI Circulation, and Notes to My (Authorized) Self, every rethinking the follow and enterprise of regulation by means of expertise, information, and human-centered design. She has authored The Rise of Product Legal professionals, Authorized Operations within the Age of AI and Knowledge, Blockchain Worth, and Get on Board, with Visible IQ for Legal professionals (ABA) forthcoming. Olga is a 6x TEDx speaker and has been acknowledged as a Silicon Valley Lady of Affect and an ABA Lady in Authorized Tech. Her work reimagines folks’s relationship with regulation—making it extra accessible, inclusive, data-driven, and aligned with how the world really works. She can also be the host of the Notes to My (Authorized) Self podcast (streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube), and her insights commonly seem in Forbes, Bloomberg Legislation, Newsweek, VentureBeat, ACC Docket, and Above the Legislation. She earned her B.A. and J.D. from UC Berkeley. Observe her on LinkedIn and X @olgavmack.
